One Short Day
by manicmethod
Summary: Sometimes, love finds you in the strangest of ways, but I didn't expect it to be this crazy. Pairing me up with Elsa "Ice Queen" Winters? I'd never in a million years have seen us together. It hardly matters either way, I guess, because some higher-power has decided that we should be soulmates.


**Hey. This is a one-shot based on all those posts about being born with a time on your wrist that counts down to when you meet your soul mate. More explain-y things at the end.**

**Enjoy!**

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Sometimes, love finds you in the strangest of ways.

My cousin, Rapunzel, for example. Her parents were pretty over-protective while she was a teen. With good reason, I guess. For her interests, reading, writing, painting, she was often ridiculed by members of the football team, one Flynn Rider more so than others. Then, one day her parents let her out, down to the beach to watch the lanterns let off every year. It was there she spoke to the man who would become the love of her life, one Eugene Fitzherbert. Better known as Flynn Rider.

So yeah, while I agree love can be crazy, I didn't expect it to be this crazy. Pairing me up with Elsa "Ice Queen" Winters? I'd never in a million years be able to see us together. I mean, she's quiet, academic, graceful and cold. I'm loud, tactless, barely scraping a "C" average and clumsy. Maybe opposites do attract? It hardly matters either way, I guess, because some higher-power has decided that we should be soulmates.

I thought it was going to be a normal day like any other. Get up, go to school, sleep through most of school, go home, attempt homework, eat, sleep. My routine was thrown off the minute I realised the timer on the palm of my hand had counted down to just over four hours. Four hours. I repeated the words in my head a few times, turning them over, letting the excitement settle. Four hours, and I would meet the person I was destined to share the rest of my life with.

It's always exciting when somebody's timer nears the end. These things we're born with, from our first breath, it's counting down. Mine had started seventeen years, one-hundred and forty-three days, seven hours and twenty-five minutes ago. Now there was just four. I wondered, briefly, if my other half was doing the same thing, looking down at his hand, as excited as I was. I let my mind wander through the best-looking guys in school. There was Hans Varm, the soccer captain, with his charm and oddly attractive sideburns. Or Kristoff Bjorgman, the quarterback. He was a lot less elegant than Hans, sure, but from what I'd heard, he was a great guy to be around.

I stood, my mind racing through the possibilities, before copping on that I had been goofily staring into space for quite some time, and I'd better get a move on if I didn't want to miss school, which today, I most assuredly didn't.

The first two periods, Chemistry and English, dragged on endlessly. I wanted nothing more than for them to be over, and for me to be able to bolt to gym class, where I was sure I would meet my prince charming. I didn't pay attention to either of the classes, opting instead to scrawl my name, Anna, alongside the surnames of various jocks in the school. Anna Varm, Anna Bjorgman, Anna Winters...Winters? I blinked. I'd zoned out scribbling them down and hadn't even noticed it was there until I had. I shook it off. The name buzzed in the back of my head, but I couldn't quite put a face to the name. One of the basketball guys maybe?

When the bell chimed signalling the end of English, I barrelled out of the classroom and through the halls, probably knocking over a few underclass men. I was far too eager to care much, throwing a few simple sorry's behind my shoulder absently as I continued to shove my way to the gym changing rooms. I glanced at my timer for the thousandth time this morning, finding it was now down to a more manageable ten minutes and forty seconds. It only succeeded to fuel my enthusiasm and I shoved with strengthened vigour through the specialist corridor and finally into the girls' changing rooms.

I looked at my hand again. I had seven minutes to get dressed and get out the to meet Mr. Right. I held back a squeal of delight, and made my way over to my usual spot. Since I'd come down so quickly, there were only a few other girls in the room, none of them any of my close friends I could gush to about this. Probably for the best. It would make the time seem shorter. Noting I had only five minutes on the clock, I changed into my gym clothes.

Once I had though, something pulled me back out the door from the gym into the hallways of the school. I remembered reading somewhere sometimes you felt a tugging sensation if you weren't quite in the right spot, and you should follow it and so follow it I did. I stood in front of the door out to the hall. Some of the other girls were staring at me oddly. I didn't care. I was meeting my soulmate.

I had ten seconds left.

10...9...8...7- I was counting off the seconds in my head, until I was rudely interrupted by the door swinging open and colliding with my face, knocking me to the ground so I landed gracelessly on my rear.

3...2...1

"Oh my God, I'm sorry, are you okay?" The girl, her voice was distinctly feminine, spurted and suddenly a hand was thrust in front of my face. After staring dumbly for a moment I realised she probably intended for me to take the hand, so I grabbed it, and she pulled me to my feet. I took a quick glance around to see if anyone had noticed the commotion. If the had, they'd already lost interest and gone back to their previous activities of getting changed and gossiping.

I looked back to the girl, starting at her feet. There was a feeling of dread in the pit of my stomach, but it was being placated by something else I couldn't quite place. From her ultramarine-blue chucks, my eyes travelled up her skinny-Jean clad legs, past the flat stomach which was somewhat concealed by a dark grey shirt embellished with the school's mascot, over her, ahem, assets and finally coming to a stop on her face. Her wonderfully soft face with the cheekbones and the thin slightly-chapped lips and the button-nose and the adorably light dusting of freckles across her face. And her eyes. Oh her eyes. The icy blue I would consider so steely and closed under normal circumstances were breathtaking. They were bright and open and expectant and that was what finally reminded me she had in fact, asked me a question.

"Uh...yeah. I'm okay..."

"I'm glad," she mumbled shyly, looking away. As she did, she lifted her left hand palm upward to show she was missing a timer. A look to my own left hand revealed what I feared.

It seemed that this girl was, more likely than not, my soulmate.

Oh.

"I'm Elsa. Winters?" she tried. It still didn't quite click, but something dinged in the back of my mind at Winters. So not a basketball boy then. "The Ice Queen?" she said tentatively, almost fearing some kind of outburst from me. Now Ice Queen rang a bell. It rung several, horrifying bells all clanging at once in a disturbing cacophony of dread. The Ice Queen is my soulmate.

I didn't give her a reply. In my daze, I pushed past her out the door into the now mostly-empty corridors of the school. I heard somebody call my name, but I ignored it and continued on my way to the janitor's closet, knowing Kai, the caretaker, was a kind hearted man and wouldn't mind a student having a nervous and sudden breakdown in his storage room. I hoped.

I pushed the door open, not entirely aware of my actions. Deciding to forgo turning on a light switch, I simply sat myself between the buckets and mops I would be content to call my friends for the rest of my life if it meant I didn't have to go out there and face her.

I knew it was been silly wishful thinking to be soulmates with Hans or Kristoff or one of the other boys, but did the universe just decide to take a massive dump on my destiny? Elsa Winters, the Ice Queen. The girl everyone knew and nobody cared for. My heart gave something akin to a sad little jump at that thought, but I ignored it. No.

The girl was stone cold. Not a single friend, and she didn't seem to care. In fact, she seemed to relish the isolation. Nobody on the football team bothered her, but then, nobody in general bothered her. They simply spread rumours. They ranged from silly things like she was a closet nymphomaniac, to more serious things like she'd screwed every male member of the faculty. All of them baseless, none of them nice.

But I thought for a moment. Baseless rumours, that's it right? No reason to get jealous. Jealous? Why jealous, I wasn't jealous. Not at all. And these rumours didn't match up at all with what I'd seen of her so far. Not that I'd seen much of her, my actions of darting out of the room had seen to that, but what little I had, I guess I'd liked. If she was really so bad, would she have apologised? Would she have held a look of utter sincerity and concern? In fact, she'd radiated nothing but kindness, and damned if it was just the bond between our souls talking, but I was curious to get to know her.

Steeling my resolve, I removed myself from my hideaway among the cleaning utensils and swung the closet door open...

Only to find our positions from earlier reversed as Elsa now fell to the ground with a thud.

"Oh crap, I'm sorry-"

"It's okay," she told me. She started getting up and I helped her. She looked at me, slightly confused by the contact. "You didn't have to do that," she told me, brushing dirt off her behind.

"No, I wanted to. And," I paused to find the right words. This would probably be the last chance I got before launching into a spiel about I much I actually loved her freckles, "I'm really sorry. Not just about knocking you over, but about running away earlier. I just kind of freaked a little. Not to be rude, you're not exactly what I was expecting. But, yeah, now that you're here, I'm actually kind of glad you are, we are, I mean. Because nobody ever wants to give you a chance and I don't know why, you seem nice. A little distant, maybe, but I guess now, I really don't have any excuse not to talk to you right? And you can't avoid me now so yeah..." I trailed off with a nervous chuckle, awaiting her reaction. She just stared at me in silence for a few moments before the corner of her lips lifted in a lopsided smile. God that was cute.

"Would you like to um...get coffee after school or something? I get the feeling you're a coffee kind of girl. Also, we should head back to the gym, coach is going to kill us."

"I would love that," I sighed, "oh, uh...coffee, not getting butchered by the coach. I would not love that."

* * *

After gym class that day, I did my best to avoid Elsa. I had never noticed her in the hallways before this, but now that I knew who she was, I was even more conscious of her presence. I needed some time to think, and to ponder on what was going to happen after school when we went for coffee. I was caught between nervous and excited jitters the whole day, my friends at lunch questioning my strange behaviour. I didn't tell them about Elsa, not yet. I still needed to figure this out for myself before I went around blabbing to everyone I was destined to be with the Ice Queen for the rest of my life.

In contrast to the first two periods, the rest of the school day didn't last long enough, and before I knew it I was waiting in the general area of Elsa's locker. I knew she was somewhere around here, the lockers having been assigned alphabetically by surname, but I wasn't exactly sure where. From my stakeout point, I could see Hans getting books from his locker. Funny. Before today, I wouldn't be able to take my eyes off of him, but now I couldn't keep my eyes from flicking around and stopping anywhere but on Hans, looking for a head of shock white hair.

In my concentration, I didn't notice the exact head I was looking for pop up by my elbow. I let out some kind of strangled gasp in surprise and jumped back. Elsa snorted and looked me over.

"I didn't think I was that repulsive," she dead-panned. Remorse overcame me instantly, worried I'd hurt her feelings at my over-reaction.

"No no no! I mean you scared me a little but because you appeared out of nowhere not because you're gross, which you totally aren't by the way. I was just busy looking for you and I was looking for your hair which is actually a really interesting colour by the way, is it natural? That was rude, I'm sorry. Oh wow, this is awkward. Not you're awkward, but just 'cause we're-I'm awkward. You're gorgeous. Wait, what?" Oh that did it. Shit.

I'd looked away from Elsa after that, feeling the heat in my cheeks. But a light laugh I could only just hear over the racket of everyone getting ready to leave pulled my gaze back up to her. She was smiling lightly, but attempted to cover it with her hand when she saw me looking.

"I was kidding you know. Lighten up," she teased and moved around me to her locker. I followed on her heels, still blushing slightly. I waited as she retrieved her bag and books from her locker. Once she had, she turned to me expectantly and I made my way out the main doors of the school assuming she was following. I walked for a few minutes before I had to stop to mentally face palm myself. I'd forgotten I'd told Ariel I wouldn't need a ride home today, anticipating my 'date' with Elsa. I turned to her now, and it seemed she retained the amused smile she'd put on when laughing at my rambling.

"Do you know where we're going?" I tried to play my short-sightedness off casually, shoving my hands deep in my jeans' pockets. Elsa was still smiling lightly, bemused, as she wordlessly grabbed my wrist and led me to the parking lot area around the back of the school. We walked through it and across the lawn to the fence that indicated the edge of the school property. Briefly I wondered if Elsa was some kind of psychopath as some said she was and had taken me here, away from prying eyes, to make me her next victim.

I quashed the thought as she released my wrist and bent to push some bushes out of the way of the fence, revealing a hole in the chain-link that would be just big enough for us to squeeze through.

"This way... it's a short-cut" she sounded hesitant for some reason, but I didn't get to ask her about it because she pushed through the hole and she she stood upright again on the other side she motioned for me to follow. Once I was out the other side, Elsa took off at a brisk pace without a word, her head occasionally darting from side to side.

"Elsa," I said, having to almost jog to catch up to her, "are you sure this is a short cut?"

"Uh...yeah, sure," she answered distractedly, still looking around, "the coffee place isn't far from here. We can talk there."

I looked around to see what Elsa seemed so distracted by, but all I could really see was the back of the school and some students in the distance. I shrugged it off. I could ask her about her jittery behaviour when we sat down.

We came to the coffee shop, one off the street that I had never even heard of.

"Wandering Oaken's?"

"It's quaint, if a bit out of the way," she gave in terms of an explanation. The bell on the door chimed as we entered. It was small, but cosy, wooden furniture and panelling on the walls gave it a sort of rustic feel. There was nobody else in it besides us, and a large man taking up most of the space behind the counter, who gave us a cheery "whoo-hoo" once the door had closed shut behind up.

We ordered our drinks, a mocha for me, and some kind of mint tea for Elsa, and we sat in a comfortable silence for a few minutes, sipping our beverages. It was strange. As a general rule, I didn't sit comfortably in silence with anyone, least of all somebody I hardly knew. Maybe it was a soulmate thing? After a few more minutes though, I started to get a little irritated at the sheer, absolute silence of the place. It wasn't near a road, and there were no other patrons, usually a coffee house should have been bursting with noise. So I decided to break the silence in the worst way possible.

"So what was with all that back there?"

"All what?" She answered hesitantly.

"You know...looking around and taking a short cut which just so happened to be as far from any other students as possible. On top of all that, you take me here, and I'm not saying it's not nice, but there's no people. Don't tell me you thought I wouldn't notice."

"Oh..." she looked down at the steaming liquid in her mug, "I'm uh...not sure you want to know."

"Hey," I leaned over and grabbed one of the hands she was cupping her drink with in mine, "I think it's part of the deal that you're supposed to tell me what's bothering you." She smiled at my allusion to our bond.

"Okay, but don't get...mad or something. I didn't want you to be seen with me."

"Come again?" I asked, stunned and a little offended.

"I mean, I'm not deluded or anything, I know I'm not exactly the most popular girl in school, or dream-date material. I know you've got some sort of a reputation to keep, so I just wanted to make it easier for you."

"Oh Elsa-"

"And to be frank, I know I'm not what you expected, or wanted, but you know something? You're exactly the person I was hoping for. I hope you don't find that weird or anything-"

"Elsa, it's fine, really," I insisted. I turned her hand over so her wrist faced out. The wrist that once displayed a countdown. I turned my own over too. "See this? This means that no matter what we are now, some day, I'm going to... I'm going to fall in love with you, and in the meantime, people are going to have to get used to the idea that the future involves me, Anna Andersen, the human ball of perpetual sunshine, together with Elsa Winters, The Ice Queen, who really isn't all that bad, once you get to know her," I traced a thumb across her now blank wrist, "I hope, anyway."

"That we'll fall in love?"

"That you're actually a giant teddy-bear."

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**I was going to make it longer...but I wanted to post it today. I might write other drabbles in the same universe in the future, of Elsa and Anna falling in love and schtuff, but for now it's a one shot.**

**THIS WAS WRITTEN IN HONOUR OF MY REACHING 100 FOLLOWERS ON MY ELSANNA TUMBLR (now technically 114) WHICH HAPPENED YESTERDAY (or Friday?) MOSTLY THANKS TO **_ELSANNAYOUBEAUTIFULGAY_** SO THIS IS DEDICATED TO YOU, YOU CUTIE**

**If you'd like to add to the 114 awesome people that follow me, my tumblr is **_bewareofthefrozenhearts_


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